The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst

by Louise Allen

  ‘But there’s lots of it. And Mr Stanier’s to have what he wants, the captain said so.’ Street was hardly likely to check, and it seemed that Stanier had got what he’d demanded as a price to sail with them.

  ‘Did he now?’ Street shoved a piece of plank with bread on it towards her. There wouldn’t be any of that once they were at sea and the land-bought supplies went stale. ‘Go on, then. You want some coffee, too, boy?’

  ‘Please, sir.’ Clemence was pretty certain that the cook didn’t warrant a sir, but a bit of crawling did no harm. She carved off four thick slices of bread and slipped round behind the man to layer bacon between them, dribbling on the rich melted fat for good measure. Street let her take a pewter plate, then watched, a gap-toothed grin on his face, as she juggled two mugs of coffee and the food.

  ‘Don’t drop it, boy, you’ll not wheedle any more out of me,’ he warned.

  ‘Nossir, thank you, sir.’ Now she had to find her way on deck, up at least two companionways, with her hands full. At least they were still at anchor; she would soon have to do this sort of thing with the ship pitching and tossing.

  She made it with the loss of half a mug of coffee when one hand made a grab for the food as she passed him and she had to duck and run. Muttering, she regarded her coffee-stained trousers with resignation, and climbed out of the hatch on to deck.

  It was a scene of apparent chaos, but she had seen enough ships preparing to make sail to know this all had a purpose. The light was waxing now, she could see the length of the deck and the lamps were extinguished. With the plate clutched protectively close to her chest, Clemence negotiated the steep steps up to the poop deck and found Stanier deep in conversation with the tall, oddly neat man with the pale blue eyes. The one who had hit her. Mr Cutler, the first mate.

  They had a chart spread out on the raised hatch cover of the stern cabin and were studying it. As Clemence came up behind them, Stanier straightened. ‘I agree, that’s the best course if you aren’t concerned about speed.’

  ‘Are you suggesting there’s a faster way?’

  Stanier extended one finger and indicated something Clemence could not see. The sight of that long digit, the one that had traced a question down her bruised cheek, made her shift uncomfortably.

  ‘That’s a dangerous passage, too big a risk.’ Cutler shook his head.

  ‘Not if you hit it at just the right time.’ Stanier began to roll up the chart. ‘How much speed do you need? Are you chasing something or just patrolling?’

  ‘Best pickings have got over twelve hours’ start on us, there’s no catching the Raven Princess now.’ Clemence almost dropped the food. ‘But if you’ve got the knack of that passage, then the captain will be glad to see it.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. And it brings you out in the shelter of Lizard Island. You’ve got good anchorage, fresh water and command of the shipping lanes through there. And you never know, Raven Princess might have been delayed. Too good not to check, I’d have thought.’

  Bastard! ‘Your coffee, Mr Stanier.’ She thrust the mug into his hand, forcing him to grasp the heated metal, and was gratified by his wince as he snatched at the handle. He deserved it. That was her ship he was talking about capturing. ‘And some bread and bacon. Sir.’

  He looked at her narrowly over the rim of the mug as he blew on his coffee. ‘That all for me?’

  ‘Yessir.’

  ‘Take your knife and cut it up. Take half and eat it.’

  ‘You’ll spoil the brat.’ The mate’s lip lifted in a sneer.

  ‘He’s half-starved and no use to me unless he’s fit.’ Stanier gave a dismissive, one-shouldered shrug. ‘Clem, eat and then go and get that cabin shipshape. You can unpack everything, just don’t drop the instruments.’

  Clemence found a corner on the main deck and curled up with her breakfast on top of a low stack of barrels, safely out of the way of the hurrying hands. Just when she had started liking the man, he turned out to be as bad as the rest of them. She shook her head abruptly; it was a lesson not to trust any of them. Ever.

  Despite her feelings, she could still enjoy the food. The bacon was good, still warm, savoury, the bread soaked with salty grease. She scrubbed the back of her hand across her mouth, then wiped her palms on her trousers without thinking. The resulting mess—smears of ink, coffee, grease and dust—was unpleasant, but she could hardly change her clothes.

  Street was surprisingly helpful when she returned her crocks. ‘Ship’s sail-maker’s over there. Doubles as tailor, for them as wants it.’ He nodded towards a man sitting cross-legged on a pile of rolled hammocks. ‘Hey, Gerritty! Navigator’s boy needs slops.’

  The tailor squinted at Clemence. ‘Look in that chest, see what’ll fit,’ he said through a mouthful of big needles, his accent a thick Irish brogue. ‘I’m not making you anything, mind, not wasting my time on boys.’

  ‘Thank you.’ The trunk held a motley collection, some of it quality, some of it sailors’ gear. Clemence had the uncomfortable feeling that most of it had been taken from captives. She found two pairs of trousers that looked as though she could take them in to fit, some shirts, a jacket and a warm knitted tunic. ‘May I take these?’

  ‘Aye.’ The sail-maker produced an evil-looking knife and cut some twine. ‘He any good, this new navigator?’

  Clemence shrugged. ‘Don’t know. He only took me on yesterday. Talks like he is.’ The Irishman snorted at her tone. ‘Where can I get a bucket and a scrubbing brush?’

  She wasn’t looking forward to tackling the privy cupboard, but she wasn’t prepared to live with it either. She was uncomfortably aware that if life had not favoured her with the wealth to keep servants, then she would have made a very reluctant housekeeper, but some hard cleaning was preferable to squalor, any day of the week.

  It took her half an hour to locate cleaning materials, dodging some rough teasing on the way. On her way down to the cabin she collected a second lantern by the simple expedient of stealing it from another cabin, then started by washing the portholes and cleaning the lamps. She made the beds, glancing with interest at the thick leather-bound notebook under Stanier’s pillow, but cautiously left it untouched, unpacked his bags and set the instruments out on the table with care.

  They were shiny, complex and obviously expensive. She raised the fiddles around the sides of the table in case the instruments slid about and eyed them, fascinated. Perhaps he would show her how they worked.

  The rest of his gear she stowed in the lockers. It was good quality stuff, but well worn and included, she was thankful to see, a huswif with thread and needles. At least she could alter her new clothes herself.

  And that just left the privy. Clemence had an idea how to deal with that.

  They were out of harbour, the island receding behind them, the breeze stiff and steady, the sun on the waves, dazzling. It was a day when it felt good to be at sea, even without the relief of having piloted the ship out under the hypercritical gaze of Cutler and Captain McTiernan, who lounged with deceptive casualness against a raised hatch cover.

  ‘What’s going on down there?’ Cutler craned to see where a group were clustered round the rail, peering at something in the sea. Laughter floated up.

  ‘I’ll take a look.’ Nathan stretched, glad of an excuse to shake the tension out of his shoulders. ‘I need to get my sextant, anyway.’

  He assessed the mood of the group as he approached it. They were having fun, probably at someone’s expense, but it was good humoured enough. ‘What’s up?’ He shouldered his way to the rail, the hands dropping back, tugging forelocks when they saw who it was. McTiernan’s crew were worryingly well disciplined.

  Hell. ‘Clem, what the devil are you doing?’ The boy leant over the rail, a rope in his hands, the muscles on his slim forearms standing out with the effort. His trousers were filthy, he had bound the handkerchief Nathan had given him around his forehead and he looked a complete urchin with smudges on his face and grime up his arms.


  Except that there was an elegance about the line of his back, the arched feet, braced on the deck, were small, the backside exposed by the shirt riding up was rounded and the skin below his collar was unexpectedly delicate.

  Blinking away a sudden sensation of complete confusion, Nathan snapped, ‘Clem!’

  ‘Sorry, sir.’ He was hauling at whatever it was now and it rose up suddenly, landed on the deck and showered them all with water. ‘That bucket, sir. Seemed the easiest way to clean it.’

  It was, certainly, a very clean bucket. Angry, for no reason he could determine, Nathan narrowed his eyes at the flushed, bruised face that met his gaze with a look of eager willingness that was surely false. Nathan had dealt with dumb insolence often enough to recognise it now.

  ‘Look at the state of you, boy. I’ll not have a servant that looks like a swine-herd.’

  ‘I’ll go and change, sir.’

  The boy was angry, he realised with a jolt. Angry with him. Was he still brooding on Nathan’s role on a pirate ship? Well, he was going to have to accept it, pretty damned quickly.

  ‘Go,’ he said with a jerk of his head, not realising until Clem and the bucket had vanished that the boy had nothing to change into. But that was not his problem—navigating this ship to place it in the best possible position for some fat merchantman to sail right into its jaws was. That was his job.

  When he came down to the cabin over an hour later he was hit by light, air and the tang of salt water and lye soap. The cabin was spotless, the inner door standing open on to what had been a fetid little cubby hole and was now clean and dimly lit with the light from the open porthole.

  A water tub stood on the floor, his mirror and shaving tackle were on the shelf, a towel dangled from a nail and a cloth was draped decorously over the bucket.

  Clem was sitting at the table with a large bodkin, some twine and a pile of newspapers. ‘What are you doing now?’ Nathan demanded.

  In response, Clem lifted his hand. Neat squares of newspaper were threaded onto the twine. ‘For the privy,’ he said concisely. ‘I found the newspaper by the galley range.’

  ‘My God.’ Nathan stared round a cabin that would have done a post captain proud. ‘You’ll make someone a wonderful wife, Clem.’

  As soon as he said it he could have bitten his tongue out. The boy went scarlet, his expression horrified. ‘Damn it, I was teasing, I don’t mean…I don’t mean what I was warning you about last night. The other men, if they see this, will just think you’re a good servant.’

  ‘Well, I did it for me, too,’ Clem retorted. ‘I’ve got to live here as well. I don’t enjoy cleaning,’ he added with a grimace.

  ‘No. And you aren’t used to it, either, are you?’ Nathan spun a chair round and straddled it, arms along the back as he studied the flushed and indignant face opposite him. ‘When you are angry, that lilting local accent vanishes completely. You’ve been educated, haven’t you, Clem? You’re from quite a respectable family.’

  ‘I—’ There was no point in lying about it. Clemence bent her head, letting her hair fall over her face, and mumbled, ‘Yes. I went to school in Spanish Town. My father was a merchant, just in a small way.’

  ‘So the loss of your ship was a blow? Financially, I mean?’

  She nodded, her mind working frantically to sort out a story that was as close to the truth as she could make it. Fewer risks of slipping up later, that way. ‘My uncle took everything that was left. He claims he’s looking after it, as my guardian.’ Indignation made her voice shake. ‘I didn’t feel safe any more, so I got a berth on the Raven Princess, in secret. Only she sailed early.’

  ‘Couldn’t you have gone to the Governor?’ Stanier asked.

  ‘The Governor? You have no idea, have you? No idea at all what it’s like being a—’ She stopped, appalled at what she had almost said.

  ‘A what, Clem?’ He was watching her like a hawk, she realised, risking a glance up through the fringe of ragged hair.

  ‘A small merchant’s son. Someone with no influence. Sir,’ she added, somewhat belatedly.

  ‘I think we can drop the sir, in here at least. My name is Nathan.’ Clemence nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet, not after that near-disaster. ‘So, we know about you now. What do you make of me, Clem?’

  Make of him? What should she say? That he was probably the most disturbingly male creature she had ever come across? That she probably owed him her life, but that she could not trust him one inch? That she admired his style, but despised his morals?

  ‘I think,’ she said slowly, returning with care to her island lilt, ‘that you are a gentleman and I know that you were once in the navy, if what McTiernan said yesterday evening in the tavern is true. And it would seem to fit with your character.’

  The unthinking natural arrogance of command, for one thing. But she couldn’t put it like that. ‘You are used to giving orders, your kit is very good quality, even if it is quite worn. There’s a broad arrow stamped on some of the instrument cases, so they were government issue once.’

  Stanier—Nathan—nodded. ‘You’re right, Clem.’ Something inside her warmed at the praise, despite the pride that was telling her she wanted nothing from him, least of all his good opinion. ‘Yes, I’m the younger son of a gentleman and, yes, I was in the navy.’

  ‘What happened?’ Intrigued now, she shook back her hair and sat up straighter, watching his face. Something shadowed, dark, moved behind those blue eyes and the lines at the corners of his mouth tightened.

  ‘I was given the opportunity to resign.’

  ‘Oh.’ There really wasn’t any tactful way of asking. ‘Why?’

  ‘A little private enterprise here, a little bloody-minded insubordination there, a duel.’

  ‘A duel?’ Clemence stared. ‘I thought naval officers weren’t allowed to duel.’

  ‘Correct.’ Nathan’s mouth twisted into a wry smile, but the bleakness behind his eyes spoke of complex emotion.

  ‘Did you kill him?’

  He shook his head and she felt unaccountably relieved. ‘No, I did not.’ It would be a horrible thing to have to live with—but why should she worry about the spiritual health of a King’s officer turned pirate?

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘You can imagine how well that went down with my family. It was felt that my absence would be the best way of dealing with the situation. So I found employment here and there, legal and perhaps not quite so legal, and ended up in Kingston with no ship and no money.’

  ‘Why are you telling me all this?’ she asked. Instinct told her that Nathan Stanier was a proud, private man. He could not be enjoying sharing the details of his disgrace and penury with a scrubby youth rescued from the dockside.

  ‘They say that a man has no secrets from his valet, and you are the nearest to one of those I’m likely to have for a while. You might as well know the worst about me from the outset.’ He got up in a smooth movement that seemed to mask barely controlled emotion. Shame? she wondered. Or just anger at the situation he found himself in?

  She could feel herself slipping closer and closer to letting her guard down with him and that, she knew, could be fatal. ‘But I knew the worst about you already,’ she pointed out, hauling herself back from the brink of blurting out who, and what, she was, casting herself onto that broad chest and giving up fighting. ‘I knew you have taken McTiernan’s money and that makes you a pirate. I really can’t think of anything worse. Can you?’

  Chapter Four

  Nathan spun round on his heel and stared at her. ‘For a bright lad, you’ve a reckless tongue,’ he remarked, his voice mild. His eyes, bleak, belied his tone utterly. ‘Yes, I can think of worse things. Betrayal and treachery for two.’ Then he laughed, sending a shiver down her spine. ‘But you’re right, they don’t get much worse than this crew, I suspect, and now we’re part of it.’

  ‘Well, I didn’t volunteer,’ Clemence said bitterly.

  ‘No, and I didn’t save your ungrateful sk
in from that pack of jackals in order to get self-righteous lectures from you either, brat. So keep your lip buttoned, Clem, or I’ll tan your breeches for you.’

  She subsided, instantly. Let him think she was terrified of a beating; better that than have him lay hands on her. The vision of herself turned over Nathan Stanier’s knee and that broad palm descending on her upturned buttocks made her go hot and cold all over. There was no way, surely, that he could fail to notice that she was a girl if that happened.

  ‘I’ll go and get our dinner, shall I?’ she offered, by way of a flag of truce.

  ‘I’m eating with the captain and Cutler.’ Nathan was shrugging into his coat. Old naval respect for a captain must be engrained, Clemence thought dourly, if he felt he had to tidy himself up for that scum.

  ‘Will they tell you where we are going?’ she asked. If they docked at a harbour on one of the other islands, surely she could slip ashore?

  ‘Hunting,’ Nathan said. ‘And not from a harbour, if that’s what you are hoping for. McTiernan’s got a hideaway, and I can show him a shortcut to get to it. Now, enough questions. Are you going to eat properly, if I’m not there to nag you?’

  Disarmed by his concern, she smiled. Life was so complicated. It would be much easier if it was black and white, if he was an out-and-out villain, but he wasn’t and liking, gratitude and the disconcerting tingle of desire kept undermining her certainty. ‘Yes, I promise. I’m hungry after all that work.’ Nathan was staring at her. ‘What is it?’

  ‘That bruise is getting worse,’ he said abruptly. ‘It looks…odd. You’re all right otherwise? You’re not seasick?’

  ‘In this weather? No. I don’t know what I would be like in a storm, though. My father used to take me on short sea journeys with him. The crews were very good, they’d let me go anywhere, even though I was a—a child,’ she finished hastily.

  The moment he was gone, she went to look at her reflection in his shaving mirror. Yes, her face was black, blue and purple on one side and still swollen. Her hair was lank and she plucked at it, wondering whether to wash it. It was horrible like this, but on the other hand it helped her disguise, and that was the most important thing. Clemence fished the bandana out of her back pocket and tied it round her forehead again, pulling it one way, then another for effect.